Ah, the Sega CD.
Known as the Mega CD outside of the US,
it was the first system that I remember that actually implemented a CD-ROM.
And like any '90s company, Sega raped and pillaged every commercial break of every kid's show
to make friggin' sure you knew that their product was the best.
I mean, seriously, what would you do if you were an eight-year-old dude
and saw THIS between the breaks of Power Rangers?
I mean, yeah! You would scream bloody murder until you got one.
Never worked for me, though.
All I got was a garden to weed.
Well, I just knew all the cool kids were on ecstasy playing Sonic CD and Ecco the Dolphin.
Stupid plants...
The games were so awesome on the Genesis.
I mean, imagine how much more awesome that they would be
with better music and actual videos! Huh, right.
Fast forward sixteen or so years
and I was finally able to give in to the propaganda and get myself a Sega CD.
So, is the device actually worth it to a cheap, casual collector?
I guess we'll find out.
Alright, now first let's look at the types of American Sega CD systems that exist.
There's the less common first model, which features a front-loading CD tray,
and then there's the most common second model which has a top-loading CD drive
like the Sega Saturn or the PS1.
And there's also a system called the "Sega/JVC X'Eye." (I don't really know.)
It's also known as the Wondermega outside of the US
and it was a combination of the Sega CD and the Genesis
along with some enhanced sound capabilities from JVC. Not really for kids.
And then there was also the Sega Genesis CDX
which was known as the Multi-Mega outside of the US.
And as the Genesis and the Sega CD together, and its size meant to be portable.
I mean, it even had a headphone jack with batteries.
Crazy.
I got my Model 2 system off eBay for about $25, and that seems to be the average price.
Of course, you will also need a Model 1 or a Model 2 Genesis to go along with it,
so look at about $40, $45 for a complete system with no games.
And make sure the Sega CD also comes with the AC adapters
(and yes, there are TWO),
and these metal plates to lock the Genesis into the system.
Not necessary, but it'd be nice.
Uh, also, it'd be great if it came with this little black slab of plastic,
especially if you have the Genesis 1,
so, it doesn't kinda hang off the edge like this here.
Yeah, that, you know, looks better.
Well, after I received it and commenced
with the usual post-auction ritual of cleaning out the decade-old dust
and what appears to be grape jelly...
...I hook the beast up.
Thankfully, it's really not that hard to hook up.
All you really need to do is slide the Genesis in,
and then hook up your RCA or RF Genesis cable to your TV,
and that's really it.
Pretty much just turn the thing on.
And once you do, you're kinda greeted with this:
Yeah, this music is the first sign of the apocalypse, I swear.
I mean, talk about being slightly ominous?
Oh well, it's kinda cool.
The first game I'm gonna try is definitely gonna be Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck.
Cool little logo...
Ah, sweet! It's got an introduction cartoon.
There you go. I mean, this is one of my favorite platformers on the Genesis 2.
Just, everything. The controls, the graphics, the music, the...
Wait, what the crap? The music.
Okay...that's fine. Let's get into the game.
Wait...
Okay, now that's different, too!
What the balls? Alright, now, the sound effects too?
Alright, this is just wrong.
Okay, let's go back and compare the Genesis and the Sega CD version.
This...is on the Genesis. The graphics are the same, really, but the sound is almost totally redone.
I mean, it's not bad, but...they aren't even similar!
And this is not a good first impression. I mean, imagine taking Sonic 3
and replacing the music with, like, cheesy Japanese pop music.
Ah, crap.
Yeah, that's exactly what they did with Sonic CD.
Well, the good thing though, is this game is amazing, really.
Easily the last great Sonic game and it gets trippy pretty often, too.
Good if you're on medication. *ahem*
Eh, let's try something else.
Here we go, freakin' Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
Yeah, I remember seeing this game all hyped up.
I couldn't believe there was a game that looked just like the TV show!
This had to be amazing, right?
Eh, well...
The video capabilities of the system seemed to be a bit less than hoped for.
I mean, I guess that's kinda what you get for being as old as it is,
but what the heck is this, though?
I'm pressing the buttons it tells me to
and it's not changing anything, really, except that bar at the bottom of the screen.
Wonder what happens when I just stop pressing stuff?
Hmm. I mean, uh,
Rita just kinda sends my Zords to Hell.
That's kinda cool.
But, that's it, that's really all you can do to make anything happen in this game
other than what it wants you to see.
It's pretty much the easiest game of Simon ever made
and on top of that, the whole game lasts like 20 minutes.
*sigh*
Well, thankfully, not all the games are crap. Uh, just most of 'em.
The few notable mentions, of course, are Heart of the Alien...
Pitfall: the Mayan Adventure...
Earthworm Jim...
Android Assault...
Ecco the Dolphin...
But really, not one of these has anything more to offer than what the Genesis could do
other than some trivial video extras and a modified soundtrack.
That's just lame.
I know there's a few others like Silpheed...
Final Fight...
Dragon's Lair...
and maybe some of the light gun games like Lethal Enforcers that made some decent use of the Sega CD
But this hardly makes it a great system.
You have the couple hundred games-ish for the system,
Eh, maybe 15 I would consider buying.
Even nowadays. I mean, thankfully, the thing is pretty cheap
and most of the games are only about $5 to $10
for crappy condition or something, but...
the good thing about having it in 2008 is the ability to...
*ahem* backup games and play them on your Sega CD.
There's no copy protection at all, so you can literally just burn them with Nero or whatever
and stick 'em in there and play it.
And for that reason alone is about the only thing that I can recommend the system for,
other than just simply collecting.
Now, of course, you can play them almost exactly the same on an emulator
like Gens Plus or something,
but you're going to need to find a BIOS (it's not that hard),
and then you're going to have to find the ISOs of the games which are, like,
400-something megs each, which, isn't that hard either,
but, you know, whatever it's a hassle and all that crap.
And, plus, you're going to have to end up burning the game anyway
because image drives such as Daemon Tools don't support the CD audio.
So, there's not going to be any music in most of the games
which, considering some of the soundtrack, isn't all that bad.
Overall, the Sega CD was a decent idea.
But, it was very poorly executed, especially with the Sega Saturn coming out so soon afterwards.
If you just have a Genesis, you can forget about this.
You're not missing much.